“We seldom have time to actually have some water even and even a washroom break.”
That’s the stark reality for many nurses in B.C., dealing with high nurse to patient ratios, chronic understaffing, and workplace violence.
Joy Lynn Dong is an RN. She says the demands on nurses are significant.
“As nurses, we’re also human beings that we get tired. We get like, you know, our workload is very much like, not actually safe most of the time. See, calls are piling up,” says Dong.
The province’s nurses are in the midst of a strike vote after negotiations reached an impasse in April.
The BC Nurses Union has cited pay, benefits, and safety considerations among the reasons a deal hasn’t been struck.
Some of the nurses taking those matters into their own hands Saturday at the outset of National Nurses Week.
The International Nursing Alliance is hosting a self-care event in Vancouver with attendees taking part in Zumba to not only centre and de-stress themselves, but to feel empowered with self defence.
“They may have encountered patients that may be aggressive, right? So sometimes, you know, they inadvertently try to throw a fit, accidentally hit you. And that’s why it’s very important to have this kind of training, even just how to properly react in some unexpected attack.”
Dong says nursing is her life’s calling and taking time away from work is the last thing she wants.
But she says if the nurses aren’t cared for, they can’t care for others, which is why she wants her colleagues to vote yes on the strike vote.
“We all deserve to also have these kind of benefits so that we can be fit and healthy every time we look after our patients.”
Voting on whether to approve a strike mandate will end on May 11th, after which the union will have about three weeks to begin job action.